Iraq: Child Protection Consultant

Organizational Background: Heartland Alliance International (HAI) is a service-based human rights organization headquartered in Chicago whose mission is to secure the rights and well-being of marginalized people and communities. HAI envisions a world in which those whose rights have been violated are safe and empowered to actively engage in their communities and be at the forefront of social change. HAI specializes in two core program areas: trauma-informed mental health and access to justice, while taking a human rights approach and integrating a progressive gender analysis into all of its programming.

Summary: For this posting, HAI is searching for an expert in: Child Protection standards. The Child Protection Consultant implements a range of assessments and trainings to improve legal protections, promote human rights, and expand social services for Iraqi children and adolescents in the criminal justice system, or in danger of coming into conflict with the law. The Consultant will work closely with the Iraq Country Director to ensure that juvenile protection programs are fully integrated with ongoing gender-based violence prevention, mental health and education programs. The Consultant reports to the Iraq Country Director. The essential purpose of this consultancy is to develop further HAI’s child protection tools in Iraq, including the training and capacity building of staff members. The position is based in Sulaymaniyah or Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, and requires national and international travel. The Consultant will spend (one month) in Sulaymaniyah/Erbil as a Child Protection trainer, supervisor, and adviser.

Program Goal: The Child Protection Consultant shall be responsible for determining gaps in HAI staff’s current knowledge of child protection best practices and procedures, and reviewing existing policies and procedures. Based on that review and assessment, the Consultant will then assist HAI in developing appropriate policies and procedures for programs working with children and adolescents, develop an overall Child Safeguarding Policy, design and implement staff training to ensure their understanding and compliance with international standards and best practices. Upon completion of training, HAI staff will exhibit practices and knowledge consistent with core child protection competencies. Finally, the Consultant will develop tools for HAI to train new and current staff on core child protection competencies and systems.

Objectives:

Objective 1: Assess baseline of staff’s knowledge of, and compliance with, IASC child protection standards and train staff on those standards. The consultant will also review internal reporting systems for abuse and neglect, for critical incidents, and for confidentiality. Finally, consultant will train staff on appropriate response to critical incidents.

Objective 2: Review current procedures in place for projects with a significant service component focusing on children or adolescents. (UNICEF, PRM and UNHCR emergency protection projects, EC Juvenile Justice program, DRL women and children protection program.)

Objective 3: Develop HAI policies compliant with international standards and best practices, particularly a Child Safeguarding Policy document.

Tasks:

• Assess baseline of staff on their compliance with child protection and humanitarian core standards and implement structured training on core child protection standards and best practices in service provision;
• Review current written policies and procedures to determine gaps in policies and procedures on child protection programming;
• Develop and cascade Child Safeguarding Policy for all staff members, consultants, volunteers, visitors, etc;
• Set up effective feedback and response mechanisms as part of Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP).

Qualifications:

· Education and experience: Social work or related field and extensive experience in child protection in humanitarian, early recovery and development contexts, legal services for immigrant minors, probation or supervised release, or other relevant experience. Training and teaching experience will be helpful for this position;

• Expertise in the methods and practices outlined in UNICEF’s Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and the Child Protection Working Group’s Child Protection in Emergencies Competency Framework;
• Ability to articulate and explain child protection and humanitarian core principles and practices to a non-expert audience and ensure their understanding of those subjects, as well as ensuring that the trainees are competent in implementing those principles and practices;
• Experience assessing NGO staff’s adherence to child protection standards and conducting child protection training, coaching, and mentoring using participatory and practical methodologies;
• Ability to assess the needs of participants during the training experience and modify application of themes as appropriate;

Languages:

· Fluent in English

· Arabic and/or Kurdish is a plus.

Deliverables:

• Assessment report of staff capacity and training curriculum (with facilitator’s manual and presentations) on child protection and child protection in emergencies (CPiE);
• Training report on the CP and CPiE training and capacity building activities carried out with program staff;
• Report on review of HAI internal policies and procedures to determine compliance with child protection standards particularly Child Safeguarding Policy;
• HAI internal Child Safeguarding Policy.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter, CV, and list of three references to: hairaq-jobs@heartlandalliance.org. In your cover letter, you should describe your experience in the child protection field and your experience performing similar assessments and trainings for NGO staff. Please be aware that the successful candidate must work in Erbil or Suliyamaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan Region.